The Jeff Choate era began on an unseasonably chilly Saturday evening at Mackay Stadium, with the Wolf Pack football squad stepping onto their home field as 27 ½ point underdogs to the visiting SMU Mustangs.
Nevada had a monster upset well within their grasp for 50 minutes before the Mustangs (1-0) rallied late, aided by some critical Wolf Pack mistakes, for a 29-24 victory over the Pack (0-1).
Nevada head coach Jeff Choate addressed the media after the heartbreaking loss in which his young team didn’t trail until the final 1:18 of game time.
“I’m disappointed for our players. You know, I feel like, you know, I think they bought into what we were selling, and they played their tails off tonight,” said Choate.
Choate said in his pregame presser that he wasn’t really concerned about the scoreboard and that he just wanted his team to play hard, no matter the outcome. But after nearly pulling the upset, he was asked whether the score became important.
“I have a really hard time with moral victories,” said Choate through semi-gritted teeth. “This was an opportunity early in my tenure for us to make a statement, and right now, like I said, there’s a lot of disappointment about the fact that we weren’t able to make that happen. Not just for the young men in the locker room, but for the staff and our fans.”
“Give a lot of credit to SMU. That’s what a championship team does.”
If new ACC member SMU thought they were going to roll into northern Nevada and roll a Wolf Pack program that amassed just four wins in the prior two seasons, coach Choate’s squad served notice early on that this squad would be no pushover.
On the Mustangs’ second play from scrimmage, Nevada defensive back Chad Brown picked off SMU quarterback Preston Stone’s first pass attempt at the Nevada 30.
Although they did not convert the turnover into points, the Wolf Pack hinted that they might be a tough out, picking up 20 yards on five plays, allowing the punt team to pin the Mustangs back on their own 10-yard line.
Nevada constantly changed its defensive looks and kept SMU off balance, and though the Pack didn’t score, they kept SMU bottled up in their own end for much of the first quarter.
“Kane (defensive coordinator Kane Loane) one of the things that he did really well in this game was we kind of, we had a Rolodex of calls for their tempos each series, and so they weren’t getting consistent looks,” shared Choate.
Pinning the Mustangs deep paid off in a big way on SMU’s third possession when their special teams unit self-destructed, attempting to punt the ball back to Nevada from their own 39-yard line. A bad snap and a fumble by the punter after getting walloped resulted in a 17-yard loss, putting the Pack in business at the SMU nine-yard line.
On third-and-goal from the five-yard line, QB Brendon Lewis hit TE Jace Henry at the one-yard line, and Henry was able to punch through the defense for the first touchdown and lead of the Jeff Choate era.
With 1:18 seconds left in the first quarter and the on-field temperature in the low 40s, there was a sense that even though there was a long way to go, something even weirder than snow on Peavine in August might be brewing.
The Wolf Pack touchdown seemed to snap SMU out of whatever funk they’d been in, and they quickly moved the ball down the field to tie the score at 7-7 with a seven-play, 51-yard drive in just three minutes culminating with an L. J. Johnson Jr. one-yard run through a hole big enough for an actual mustang to gallop through.
Nevada fans kind of sat back in their seats as if to say, “OK, at least we had a lead for a little bit,” but the Pack would hang tough and even reassume the lead on a Matthew Killam 36-yard field goal after an eight-play, 57-yard drive with 8:38 left in the half.
After the Mustangs knotted things up at 10-10 on a Collin Rogers field goal from 52 yards, Nevada offensive coordinator Matt Lubick crossed up the Mustangs on third-and-one from their own 28-yard line.
After two consecutive runs, Lewis faked a handoff and delivered a strike to wide receiver Cortez Braham on a long crossing route for a 48-yard gain to the SMU 24, flipping the field and allowing the offense to go to work with two minutes remaining in the half.
Seven plays later, Lewis again hooked up with Braham for a 10-yard score in the back corner of the end zone with nine seconds on the clock.
Killam added the PAT, sending the massive underdog Wolf Pack to the locker room leading 17-10 and doing so in dominant fashion, limiting SMU to just 17 yards rushing on 15 attempts and holding the ball for two-thirds of the half with 19:36 of possession time.
The Mustangs, coming off an 11-win season in 2023 and returning nine starters on offense, showed some desperation to open the second half by being more aggressive in the pass game, picking up 50 yards on four Stone completions.
However, the Wolf Pack defense would stiffen, and SMU would settle for another Rogers FG from 43 yards to pull within 17-13 with 12:18 to go in the third quarter.
On the Pack’s next possession, SMU appeared to have stopped Nevada and were perhaps poised to take control of the game with another scoring drive. Still, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for spitting on an opposing player on fourth down committed by SMU’s Brandon Crossley gave Nevada new life, and they took full advantage.
Lewis completed passes to WR Jaden Smith for 11 yards and another to RB Savion Red for 14 yards.
On third-and-nine from the SMU 19, Lewis had Braham open in the end zone after beating DB Cale Sanders Jr. so badly that Sanders Jr. had no choice but to grab Braham. This resulted in a flag for pass interference, putting the ball at the SMU four-yard line.
Two plays later, Red would punch it in for the score. Killam’s PAT was good, and Nevada stretched the lead to 24-13 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
The Mustangs moved the ball down the field on their next possession with an 11-play drive, but Rogers missed badly on a 51-yard field goal attempt. With 14:56 to play, the Wolf Pack took over at their own 34-yard line and were still up by 11 points. 
The upset was no longer a fantasy. They just might pull it off.
Nevada picked up a pair of first downs and burned nearly five minutes off the clock, moving the ball as far as SMU’s 29-yard line and an opportunity for a potential game-clinching FG on their next possession.
And that’s when the first critical mistake occurred.
A tripping penalty by RB Sean Dollars on third down pushed Nevada out of field goal range and they were forced to punt. Guy Gillespie’s punt on fourth down bounced out at the SMU seven-yard line, but an illegal formation penalty pushed the Pack back another five yards.
Turns out it didn’t matter. Gillespie’s next punt landed in the center of the field at the 10-yard line, and Caine Savage downed it at the two, pinning the Mustangs deep.
After a pair of running plays, SMU faced a third-and-two from their own 10-yard line. It was a pivotal moment for the Nevada defense. Getting a stop and pulling this off was unquestionably within reach.
But SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee had other ideas and crossed up the Pack defense as Stone hit TE R.J. Maryland in stride in front of the Nevada bench for 49 yards all the way to the Wolf Pack’s 41-yard line.
The Mustangs would march 98 yards and eventually convert on a four-yard Brashard Smith TD run. The ensuing two-point conversion by Johnson Jr. brought SMU within three at 24-21 with 8:01 left to play.
The second critical mistake happened next.
On the ensuing kickoff, Nevada’s Ashton Hayes committed an unforced error by catching the ball in the end zone and then fumbling it forward before he could down it for a touchback. By rule, he could have recovered the ball and stepped back into the end zone for the touchback, but in recovering the ball, his knee touched the ground, and Nevada was forced to begin at their own one-yard line.
It was a crucial mistake at the wrong time — the kind of mistake a young team makes to lose a game they’ve dominated against a superior opponent. 
Coach Choate lamented the play with a slight smile, “It’s ironic that we actually had just gone over that exact situation the last week of fall camp. We have a deal that we call situational masters, and we went through exactly that scenario.”
Two plays later, Savion Red was tackled for a safety in the end zone, and SMU had pulled within one at 24-23 and would get the ball after the free kick with 7:11 left.
A 25-yard return gave SMU the ball at midfield, but the Wolf Pack defense kept the upset alive, forcing a punt and Nevada taking over at their own 16-yard line with just over five minutes to go.
Nevada’s offense sputtered, however, and the ball was punted back to SMU. The Mustangs took over at their own 17-yard line after a 60-yard Gillespie punt with 3:31 left.
Clinging to a one-point lead, the Nevada defense tried in vain to stop the 6-4, 237-lb. Maryland, son of Dallas Cowboys star Russell Maryland, who had a monster second half and a game-high eight catches for 162 yards.
Maryland capped his night on a pretty 34-yard toss from Stone for a touchdown with 1:18 to play, capping a nine-play drive in which three of them went to Maryland, giving the Mustangs their first lead of the game at 29-24 after a failed two-point attempt.
The Wolf Pack would have the opportunity to drive down the field for a winning touchdown and the upset, but Lewis’ desperation pass on fourth-and-10 was caught out of bounds, sending the Pack to defeat in its first contest of the 2024 campaign.
Coach Choate gave full credit to coach Lashlee and SMU: “Give a lot of credit to SMU. That’s what a championship team does. When their backs are to the wall, they find ways to make plays with a veteran group like that,” said Choate.
He added, “So you know, credit Rhett and his team, but I really felt like there was a ton of positives that came out of this experience for our guys.”
Next up: Nevada travels to Troy, Alabama, to take on the Troy University Trojans at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Notes
- Nevada went 4-4 in the red zone, including three touchdowns and a field goal.
- QB Brendon Lewis finished 14-of-26 for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The pair of touchdown passes matched Lewis’ total from 2023.
- Lewis led Nevada in rushing with 77 yards on 18 carries.
- Nevada did not commit a turnover.
- SMU QB Preston Sone finished 17-of-30 for 254 yards and a touchdown. Stone was just 3-of-10 in the first half but went 5-of-8 for 124 yards in the fourth quarter.
- Nevada held SMU to 1-of-7 on third-down conversions through three quarters. SMU converted 4-of-5 third downs in the fourth quarter.
- Cortez Braham Jr. led Nevada receivers with four catches for 66 yards and a TD and drew a key pass interference penalty in the end zone, leading to Nevada’s final TD.
